Moviehouse: The Film Studio Tycoon Review – Lights, camera, inaction!

Hollywood is a mess right now. Between endless sequels, reboots, and the slight problem of having every writer in town currently on strike, the annual summer blockbuster just doesn’t pack as much of a tentpole punch as it used to. It’s a good thing then that you’re in charge of a film lot, as new indie sim Moviehouse: The Film Studio Tycoon gives you a cozy little production studio to craft the films of your dreams. Odyssey Studios and Assemble Entertainment’s PC game gives you a solid foundation to put your own stamp on the film industry, but just like the real Hollywood, Moviehouse quickly loses its charm once the reality of making big-budget entertainment sets in.

The first few hours though, are fascinating. Starting out in the 1980s, you’ve got all the basic tools to crack out a few low-budget indies and cater to market trends. Like the legends of the industry–Cameron, Corman, and Kaufman–you’re going to need to dive headfirst into competitive waters and fight your way to the top. It’s a Reservoir Dog-eat-dog world as you juggle your income with the demands of running a movie studio, keeping your staff happy, and producing a feature film that’ll have staying power on the movie circuit.

The entire process of seeing just how the cinematic sausage is made, from hiring writers to assigning directors, makes for an engrossing gameplay loop initially. It pinches a few ideas from Game Dev Tycoon but still puts its own stamp on the filmmaking process as you level up and start producing more varied content. Play your cards right, and you’ll be able to move your studio away from producing cheap horror, and towards more specialist entertainment and tentpole productions with ludicrous budgets.

While you’re digging deep into the nuances of developing your movies, there’ll be other small jobs that need to be tackled as well. Juggling your staff demands, scouting locations, and setting up a props department are just some of the hurdles you’ll need to overcome, but the biggest challenges you’ll face are some counterintuitive gameplay mechanics. Moviehouse requires you to play the waiting game as you shoot films, slowing down the otherwise intriguing processes of pre-production, principal photography, and promotion.

It’s also an inflexible game, as you’re only able to really start tweaking scripts in the late stages of play. Even doing that bears a major risk of brewing up some box office poison due to the artistes taking offense to your changes. Releasing a film that should be a sure-fire hit can be an unnecessarily tedious experience, as waiting for those box office returns takes a while to materialise.

There are ways around this, but it requires compromises and selling out by producing mockbusters and direct-to-DVD drivel that would have Steven Seagal’s ego-bloated face on the cover. On second thought, maybe that is an authentic part of Hollywood. But it’s definitely not a fun part of the process. Throw in a series of menus and UI elements that quickly crowd up the screen, and the bigger your production, the more chaotic your screen looks – as you sift through a barrage of prompts and notifications that create a messy workspace. It’s not the worst UI I’ve ever seen, but it’s a sore point for a game where organisation is key to its design.

Together, these design missteps combine for an end result, and final impression, that is more frustrating than fun. Which is a pirty.